Ralph Lauren Appoints New CEO, Patrice Louvet

Ralph Lauren Corp. said Wednesday that it has named Patrice Louvet chief executive, effective July 17. He will also be appointed to the board. Louvet will report to Ralph Lauren, who is executive chairman of the board and chief creative officer. Louvet succeeds Stefan Larsson, who stepped down from the CEO position in February. Louvet was most recently group president of global beauty at Procter & Gamble Co. , a division with 12 brands. He has more than 25 years of experience with that company. Ralph Lauren shares are down 0.6% in premarket trading, and down 18.1% for the year to date. The S&P 500 index is up 7.2% for 2017 so far.